There are no half measures when it comes to being a Breaking Bad fan. Either you love it, or you just haven't watched it yet. But you could be forgiven if you've only watched the episodes themselves, as opposed to the supercuts, sketches, skits, minisodes, parodies, bowling compeitions, musical interpretations, late night chat show appearances and special Breaking Bad editions of other shows that have also appeared over the years. Here, then, are 27 of our favourites, with dozens more suggestions to go alongside them. Have fun, bitch!
15 years ago, when Aaron Paul was just 19, The Man Who Would Be Jesse Pinkman was a lucky contestant on The Price Is Right. Seeing Paul’s BOUNDLESS ENERGY rubbing up against Bob Barker’s altogether more unhurried charm is an astonishing sight, and one made all the more mind-blowing when you remember Barker’s immortal line in Happy Gilmore: “Now you’ve had enough… bitch.”
On a side note, Paul’s Price Is Right appearance is part of an on-going Breaking Bad video meme, where enterprising fans take footage from outside the BB universe and put it on The Shraders’ flatscreen TV (as seen in the final season). Their reactions to ‘Jesse Pinkman’ on that particular gameshow are priceless and Miley Cyrus twerking at the 2013 VMAs{
Team Groening really went the extra mile with their Breaking Bad homage. Though a lot of what you’d expect is there – Homer as Walt; bright blue muffins as the meth substitute; elements replacing certain letters in The Simpsons logo (Thorium and Silicon) – it’s all wrapped up in a beautiful cooking-montage bow. The icing on the cupcake is that it’s all to the tune of Tommy James And The Shondells’ 1969 hit ‘Crystal Blue Persuasion’ – as heard on Breaking Bad Season 5, Episode 8 – until it jumps to Jesse and Walt watching it in their Hazmat suits... in the 'real' world.
And if you’ve ever thought Walter White looked like Ned Flanders, you’re not the only one, as this worryingly vomit-filled mash-up proves.
As well as playing Hank’s right hand methbuster Steve “Gomey” Gomez, actor Steven Michael Quezada also hosts late night Albuquerque chat show The After After Party, and, as you might expect, he occasionally invites guests from Breaking Bad on. This is his finest hour, when he persuaded Bryan Cranston to shave off his hair, on camera, just before the third season started shooting.
Animator Brian Anderson gives his Breaking Bad LEGO video game fever dream a preface: “The following video is a PARODY and does not contain footage from an actual video game, but if they made it I would TOTALLY play it.” No complaints from us on that front, though considering it features two minifigs assembling a meth lab RV from everyone’s favourite carpet-friendly plastic bricks, there’s not much chance of a Back To The Future-like Kickstarter campaign on this one.
And if the LEGO games aren’t your speed, try this 16-bit RPG version{
Lopez Tonight was a short-lived late night chat show that aired from 2009-2011, but in that time they managed to get one hell of a Breaking Bad coup: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul coming on to cook everyone some meth. And by ‘meth’, we mean some weird cheesy gloop that makes the taster/victim feel quite sick. The ingredients include liquid nitrogen, which is never a good sign.
Somewhere on the internet, the whole of the Mythbusters Breaking Bad special is available to watch in all its 43-minute long glory, but as that is no doubt rather illegal, here’s a brief teaser of the show in the form of this outtakes reel. Taking the Mythbusters love of, well, busting myths (and blowing things up) all the way to Albuquerque, hosts Jamie Hyneman (beret and beard) and Adam Savage (black glasses and beard) join up with Aaron Paul and Vince Gilligan to throw Mercury fulminate at walls and melt pigs in baths. Isn’t science fun?
On September 18, 2011, several televisual worlds collided. On the surface, it was another scene from The American Office, all pieces to camera and paper products piled in the corner. Then Parks And Recreation’s Tom Haverford (Aziz Anzari) turns up, then 30 Rock’s Tracy Jordan, then Mad Men’s Roger Sterling (John Slattery), then… Jesse Pinkman, there to “drop something off… for someone.” That someone is Creed Bratton, and that something is meth. This all meant that the world of Breaking Bad was somehow the same world as four other huge shows. Thank you, 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards organisers, for blowing all our TV-loving minds.
There are so many great moments in this Nerdist Podcast All Star Bowling special. Every time someone gets a strike, the screen flashes up with a “Strikeonium” symbol, likewise “Sparon” for a spare and a delightful cartoon “Albaturkey” when someone – we won’t say who – gets three Strikeoniums in a row. Other highlights: Bryan Cranston’s maniacal laughter at one point is like the devil himself has possessed Walter White, Betsy Brandt kisses a Nerdist podcaster on the mouth, Aaron Paul says the words “Kiss it!” after a Sparon – the list goes on and on. Be sure to pause when you first see Cranston’s bowling shirt so you can see what name he’s put on his chest…
You’ve got the Heisenberg drawing T-shirt, the Hazmat suit bobble head and the homemade Jesse and Walt woolen dolls... but you’re still not as big a Breaking Bad fan as Jimmy Fallon. Witness this 12-minute love letter to Albuquerque’s finest, featuring cameos from Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Aaron Paul and that pizza, of course).
In August 2012, serial popster (and Valentine’s Day star) Taylor Swift released the undeniably-catchy-but-thin-as-a-wafer-thin-mint radio filler called ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ made a Breaking Bad parody version called ‘We Are Never Ever Going To Cook Together’, something so geeky you may well cry watching it. Handily, it serves a great get-out if anyone catches you humming the original at the bus stop.
If you thought the Taylor Swift / Breaking Bad mash-up was the most adorkable thing you’d ever seen, prepare to take another short, sharp breath of astonishment as you watch this Rhett & Link short. Dozens of precocious little ‘uns, several stationary stores’ worth of cardboard and sticky back plastic, and lyrics that’ll make your eardrums melt… it’s arguably the best thing to come out of 2013’s Geek Week on YouTube – aside from the BB recap on an Etch-A-Sketch and the Kryten-from-Red-Dwarf videos{
SLJ – as no-one calls him – wanted to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association Of America, so he took to “the YouTubes” to drum up some cashola. His moolah-making magic trick was to read / act out a monologue from Breaking Bad, more specifically, the “I am the one who knocks” speech from ‘Cornered’ (Episode 6 of Season 4). It’s an interesting watch, but it’s not anywhere near as good as the original. The internet quickly noticed this, and proceeded to pour 99% pure bile into the comments section, which eventually had to be switched off. That’s what happens when you knock Samuel L. Jackson, ladies and gentlemen.
You can see the audition tapes for Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, Aaron Paul, Betsy Brandt and Laura Fraser (who’s Scottish, by the way) over here as part of our Ultimate Collection Of Film And TV Audition Tapes feature, but we’ve pulled out Paul’s for special inspection just because it really is that good. It’s as if he came ready with Jesse in his back pocket – handy, considering the character was originally earmarked for an early death before Paul’s performance persuaded Vince Gilligan to change his mind and keep him alive.
Throw a volumetric flask anywhere in Los Angeles and chances are you’ll hit a minivan full of celeb-hunting tourists. If you do, apologise, because that’s really not the done thing. Anyway, what’s altogether less likely is hitting Aaron Paul himself, which (essentially) is what happened to these Irish holidaymakers here. Sure, they had told the driver to head to his house on purpose, but who would have predicted he’d actually come outside for a chat and a photo op?
Breaking Bad has so many awards, Wikipedia set up a page called ‘List of awards and nominations received by Breaking Bad’ to itemise them all. Currently holding the Guinness World Record for being the most critically acclaimed show of all time – that’s what a Metacritic score of 99/100 will do for you – it’s safe to say that it’s not a bad TV programme. The Emmy voters agree, giving Bryan Cranston winning The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series a record-setting three years on the trot, first in 2008 for the pilot, then in 2010 for Season 3’s ‘Full Measure’, then for Season 4’s ‘End Times’ in 2012. In the technical categories, the show’s won the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series award three times, which officially makes it better than Mrs. Brown’s Boys.
Goofs, gaffes, bloopers or bugger-ups – whatever you call them, when they’re caught on camera, they’re intrinsically funny. Seeing the otherwise ultra-frowny Gus Fring crack a smile during a particularly tense take is always going to be amusing, but a well-cut compilation of the whole cast’s cock-ups really takes it to another level. On the left is Season 2’s gag reel, Season 4 and Season 5A{
In February 2009, just before Season 2 aired, AMC revealed five online-only mini-episodes (or ‘minisodes’) that showed the characters in altogether more comical situations. The first, ‘Good Cop / Bad Cop’, has a generously behatted husband-to-be Hank being consoled by a young Walt; the third, ‘TwaüghtHammër’ years before Walt got in on the action; and the fifth, ‘The Break-In’{
In the ‘90s, there were great shows like The X-Files, and there were terrible shows, like The Real World. Now as Vince Gilligan’s aching award cabinet will testify, Breaking Bad is not a terrible ‘90s TV show… but what if it were? YouTuber GoesToEleven investigates, all the tune of Foreigner’s frontal cortex-meltingly catchy ‘Little White Lie’{
The sexual tension between Jesse Pinkman and ‘Mr. White’ is positively… deniable, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from imagining their bromance becoming something else, much in the same way Sherlockers insist Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes are actually an otter and hedgehog very much in love. Marvel, then, at Breakbad Mountain, which posits a world where Jesse can quit meth… but can’t quit Walt.
See also: Breaking Bad, the rom-com version{
Composer Dave Porter has scored Breaking Bad since the pilot, coming up with an extended theme tune that was eventually boiled down to the purer 20-second hit you know and love. You can listen the spine-tingling longer version here but for something completely different (in a way), here’s the same theme, but played on equipment that you might find in a meth lab - which includes a frying pan, apparently.
Aaron Paul once appeared in a Juicy Fruit advert in the ‘90s, and it was weird.
He also appeared on The X-Files, NYPD Blue and 90210, but at no point do you see anyone's nipples.
If you’re a fan of Breaking Bad – and if you’ve come this far down this feature-shaped rabbit hole, here’s hoping you are – you may have noticed Jesse Pinkman’s fondess for the word ‘bitch’, normally delivered with an exclamation mark after it, as in “Yeah bitch, magnets!” or “Gatorade me, bitch!” To celebrate Albuquerque’s foremost ‘bitch!’ dropper, here’s a compilation of every time he’s said the word up until the beginning of the fifth season. And to find out what it’s like for Aaron Paul to say the word so much – and how it feels when people shout “Give me some meth, bitch!” at airports – check out this Conan interview segment{
P.S. To hear Paul say the phrase “Congratulations, you vegan bitch”, click this link{
To tell you Aaron Paul’s Hidden Celebrity Talent would be to ruin the surprise for you, but let it be said that it’s mighty impressive, and involves dogs with ribbons on their necks. And if that doesn’t pique your interest, we don’t know what will.
If you’re as famous as Bryan Cranston is, it’s difficult to enjoy Comic-Con without getting mobbed by fans. His solution: wearing an incredibly life-like rubber mask… of his own face. Sporting the traditional Walter White get up of khaki trousers and green shirt, he was able to wander around the floor unmolested, speaking in a higher pitched voice whenever someone give him a compliment for his snazzy fancy dress constume. He revealed all this during the Breaking Bad panel in Hall H, peeling off his 'face' before Aaron Paul gave it a big sloppy wet kiss – you know, just like in the final episode.
It’s easy to dress up as the characters of Breaking Bad. A pork pie hat, a fake beard, a bald cap and you’re basically Walt; a baggy hoodie, a skull cap and a little bit of drawn-on stubble and 'Yo, bitch!', you’re Jesse. Doing their voices, on the other hand, is much more difficult, which is what makes College Humor’s Breaking-Bad-in-the-workplace skit all the more impressive. The ‘Jesse’ is especially good – even if he’s really a Badger look-alike when you get down to it.
Walter has his bone-chilling catchphrases – “I am the danger”, “I am the one who knocks”, “Say my name” and so on – and Jesse bitches with the best of them, but the real king of the Breaking Bad one-liner is Bob Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman, who gets his chance to shine in this glorious supercut – as well as [that prequel spin-off show AMC are planning…
'You will share this feature with all of your Breaking Bad-loving friends...'
Taking a leaf out of Swede Mason’s Masterchef Synesthesia cookbook, YouTuber PlaceBoing take his favourite snippets from Seasons 1-2 of Breaking Bad and turns them into an aurally addictive mix of the words ‘Fish’, ‘Pop’ and just a couple of other choice audio nuggets. It’s a treat for the eyes and the ears, and remains the only way to get a nightclub DJ to incorporate BB into his set.